


Silent Night

by Kat_d86



Series: Lucifer's Orbit [6]
Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: American Sign Language, F/M, He Speaks Everything, Lux - Freeform, Multi-lingual Devil, Sign Language, night out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:53:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27356047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kat_d86/pseuds/Kat_d86
Summary: Danni had one last night in L.A. and ended up in the hottest Nightclub in town. The others where having a great time but she hatred it. Too loud, too distracting, no one to talk to... until a handsome Devil plucked her away for a quiet evening.orHow would the Devil treat someone who's Hard of Hearing? Spoiler Alert: Just like he treats everyone else...to their deepest Desire.
Series: Lucifer's Orbit [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1336324
Comments: 5
Kudos: 48





	Silent Night

**Author's Note:**

> Part of my Lucifer Orbit Mini Series where I shine a light on the world surrounding Lucifer and how he affected those around him without only focusing on the Devil himself. None of these have a set time frame (unless directly specified) and are intended to slot in at any point from the beginning of Season 1 to the end of Season 3. I’ll leave it up to you guys where you feel they fit best. Enjoy.

Danni stepped through the doors into Lux. The music was so loud she could feel the bass throbbing through her and immediately an amplified blast of sound went off in her ears. She flinched and reached up under her long hair to turn off her hearing aids. Her cousin Lottie and all Lottie’s friends hadn’t noticed her discomfort as they continued down the stairs without even pausing. Coming out tonight had been their idea, a way to celebrate Danni’s last night before her flight back East tomorrow evening. Danni, on the other hand, would much rather had stayed in.

She knew they meant well but public places could be tiring at the best of times. Loud music meant she couldn’t pick out conversation from all the background noise, the flashing lights made lip reading even more difficult than normal and exuberant drunks were so much harder to deal when you couldn’t hear clearly. Yet, she didn’t want to seem ungrateful that they had gone out of their way to include her so here she was. Even though everything combined was going to make this an exhausting evening she took a deep breath and followed them down the stairs.

With her hearing aids off every sound merged into muted white noise. When her cousin turned and asked her a question it sounded muffled, like she was trying to eavesdrop through a thin apartment wall. That, the shapes formed by Lottie’s mouth as she spoke, and the fact there was a bartender looking at her expectantly gave her a fair approximation of what the question had been.

“Gin and tonic, please” she said and really hoped she wasn’t shouting too loud. It was so hard to judge when she couldn’t hear herself. She must have got it right as the barman turned to prepare the order whilst the others laid claim to one of the high tables by the railing that guarded the drop onto the dance floor. Their drinks were brought to them and the next hour was filled with stilted exchanges as Danni tried to join in with the conversations flying around her as the music blared. It probably wasn’t that loud to anyone else, the rest of the group seemed to be able to carry on just fine, but without her hearing aids Danni was struggling to pick out the voices next to her from all the background noise. With such a big group of relative strangers she was struggling to keep track of who had said what and, after the third time she’d lost the thread entirely, she gave up and settled for nursing her drink.

It would have been so much easier if she could Sign to them but Lottie was the only one who knew any ASL. Even then her cousin hadn’t practiced much since they’d been kids together. When she’d tried to introduce Danni to her friends her fingers had been stiff and hesitant. After the fourth person had patiently waited for Lottie to finish Danni had taken pity on them and got out her phone. A few quick typed messages to fill in the blanks when she couldn’t make out what people said and she’d got everyone’s name. Then had come all the tedious questions it seemed she always had to field when she met new people:

“If you’re deaf, how come you have a phone?”

Even though she had just had them type things out for her.

“If it’s hereditary, how come Lottie doesn’t have it?”

What was she, a geneticist?

“So, if you can’t hear how come you talk properly?”

As if they expected her to divulge her entire medical history to people she had just met? Or explain the different between partial or total deafness? How she had been born hearing so had learned to talk just like any normal kid. How she’s eventually noticed everything was getting quieter and her parents had taken her to the doctors for tests. How she’d needed hearing aids since she was twelve, that it was getting worse and it was entirely possible she’d be completely deaf before she was 35, which wasn’t that far away. It was a sore point that far too many people treated as a general conversation topic once they learned of her situation, as if admitting she was deaf somehow gave them permission to demand intimate details about her life.

Luckily she hadn’t had to answer this time, as Lottie had stepped in and told her friends to stop prying, that Danni was only visiting for a week so they should make her feel welcome. To be fair to them they had tried and, after a few days, they had got used to making sure she could see their face when they spoke to her. Danni was used to having to get along with people with fully functioning ears so, by the end of the week, it wasn’t much more work than her normal day. She’d just been itching to use her hands to explain things to them, rather than having to resort to passing a phone between them when she couldn’t pick up what they were saying.

Like now. The murmur and buzz going on around her was totally unintelligible to her unless she focused all of her attention on lip reading and even then she could only follow what one person was saying. As soon as someone else joined in it would take her a few moments to figure out who was talking and focus on them which means she would miss half of what they said. The mental juggling of trying to keep up with so many things at once in such an environment wasn’t something she thought any hearing person could understand. Eventually she zoned out and started looking around the room.

The place was busy. Lottie had said this was one of the best places in L.A. and it defiantly looked the part. The music must have quieted down as the bass was no longer thrumming through her and the dance floor had thinned out slightly. She must have been looking around for longer than she thought as she was surprised when her phone vibrated in her hand. She glanced at it to see a message from Lottie.

‘ _Are you ok?_ ’ She looked up to see her cousin watching her from across the table with a slightly concerned expression.

‘ _Yes, I’m fine. Just tired_ ’ She typed back with a smile to reassure her.

‘ _We can go if you want?_ ’ Lottie offered, followed by a smiley face and a hugging emoji

‘ _Really, I’m fine. I don’t want to ruin it for everyone_ ’ she replied. Her cousin read the message then put her phone down. She met her eyes and moved her hands.

“ _You. Sure. You. Really. OK?”_ She signed slowly but clearly and mimed the words as she did so. Danni smiled, appreciating the gesture, and nodded back.

“ _I’m good, thanks_ ” she replied, moving her hands slower than normal so Lottie could keep up. Her cousin smiled.

“ _Dance?_ ” Lottie asked. She missed off the sign that would officially make it a question but it was more than implied with the expectant look on her face. Danni glanced at the dance floor. It was tempting but whatever was playing still didn’t have much bass so she couldn’t feel the beat. She’d have to turn her hearing aids back on and that would be a risk if the music picked up again. She looked at Lottie and shook her head. The other woman pouted before standing up.

“ _Follow Me_ ” she signed, clearly figuring out that Danni’s reluctance was because she couldn’t completely hear the music and not because she didn’t want to. She had to admit that, even though they didn’t get to see each other as much anymore, her cousin was pretty good at reading her. She let her take her hand and the two of them headed down the steps onto the dance floor. As she looked around her to try and get an idea of the beat her eyebrows went up in confusion as everyone around them stopped moving. She turned to Lottie for an explanation but noticed she was looking across the room. Danni followed her gaze to see a tall, handsome, man striding through the crowd that parted before him like a tide. The music had stopped and the room had fallen so quiet even she could hear the rustle of excitement as the man sat down at the piano in the middle of the dance floor.

The main lights dimmed and a spot light illuminated him from above. It gave him an almost heavenly glow around his dark hair, like an angel from some old renaissance painting, and it definitely suited him. He was gorgeous to look at and Danni found herself blushing when all he did was glance in her direction. She turned to her cousin to see that she had also flushed pink.

“Who’s that?” she asked out loud but her cousin quickly raised her finger to her lips to quiet her. Danni noticed several people nearby glaring at her and she realized she must have spoken too loud.

“He’s going to play” Lottie answered, Danni wasn’t sure if she’d said it out loud or not but she mimed hitting piano keys at the same time.

‘ _Sorry_ ’ Her fingers apologised for her without thinking and she turned back to see the man start to caress the keys. With the rest of the room silent she could just about make it out. Even muted it seemed beautiful and, as he started to sing, she slipped her hands up and turned her hearing aids back on. She wasn’t disappointed. He had the voice of an angel to go with the looks. She just knew that she’d be able to recall exactly what he sounded like long after her ears had given up. The song finished and she was holding back a sappy smile at the beauty of it. She would have felt silly except she could see several other people who were doing the same. He played two more songs and she just stood there on the edge of the dance floor and listened. The whole room was captivated by his performance, as if moving would somehow break the spell he had cast over all of them.

The third song ended with a flourish and the lights changed as if on que. A heavy beat kicked in from the sound system and Danni flinched as her hearing aids responded immediately. She hastily turned them off again and headed back to the table. Lottie caught her arm and gave her a questioning expression. Danni didn’t even try to make herself heard over the new song but waved her hand at the speakers before pointing to her ears and shaking her head. The rest of Lottie’s friends suddenly hurried around her and began tugging her cousin back towards the dance floor. Whatever song was playing was clearly a favourite of theirs. She smiled at Lottie and made a shooing motion to indicate she should go with her friends before returning to their table. The last woman remaining looked at her hopefully and spoke. She didn’t catch what she said but she got the idea as they pointed at the table of half-finished drinks and designer purses. Danni nodded and the woman hugged her ecstatically before hurrying to the dance floor and joining the others.

Danni didn’t want to resent them for having fun but she did feel rather left out as she looked at the pile of purses she’d been left to babysit. She found hers and pulled out her phone. As the lights flashed and rotated she aimlessly skimmed through her notifications with only occasional glances to see what the others were doing. After ten minutes or so they were all still dancing and, as she looked back down at her phone, someone placed a fresh Gin and Tonic in front of her.

She looked up in surprise to see the man who had been playing the piano standing right in front of her and, oh god, he was even more beautiful up close. He was saying something to her but with all the background noise and flashing lights she couldn’t make it out.

“I’m sorry, could you say that again?” She asked, hoping she had picked the right volume. He took a sip of his own drink before repeating himself. She focused on his mouth and tried to pick up the rhythm of his voice over the thumping music.

“I was wondering why you weren’t enjoying your evening?” he asked and she was so mesmerised by the way his lips moved it took her a moment to realise he was waiting for her to reply.

“I am, it’s just ... loud. My ears..... I don’t hear so well” She finished before silently chastising herself for blurting out such a garbled reply. What on earth compelled her to say that?

“Well, we can’t have that ------- - -------- -- your evening” She missed the middle of the sentence as he turned slightly and held his hand in the air. He signalled to the DJ booth and to her shock the jumbled sound of the music actually went down.

“How did you...” She started to ask but he only grinned.

“Benefits -- own--- the place” Was all she could make out of what he replied and her eyes went wide for a moment.

‘ _Thank you_ ’ Her hands said automatically and she really meant it. The background noise was still intense but she could start to pick out individual noises in the mess. She might even risk turning her hearing aids back on. He knocked back the rest of his drink and put the glass down on the table.

‘ _You’re welcome_ ’ he replied, his fingers clearly portraying his words and she immediately sat up straighter.

‘ _You Sign?_ ’ she asked. It wasn’t as stupid a question as it seemed. She’d met lots of people who only knew a few words so she didn’t like to assume someone was fluent.

‘ _Of course, I speak everything’_ His fingers said confidently and she gave a sad smile.

‘ _Most don’t consider this speaking’_ She pointed out, again wondering why she was being so honest with this man. Normally she kept such things to herself.

‘ _Then ‘most’ are clearly idiots. How can something that can make words from silence be anything but beautiful_ ’ He said and she found herself blushing. She looked away quickly, hoping he hadn’t noticed. When she looked back she found his eyes inspecting her in a way that made her stomach flutter. She picked up the drink he had presented to her and took a long pull as she gathered her thoughts.

‘ _I’m D.A.N.N.I’_ She introduced herself, adding her personal Sign for her name at the end.

‘L.U.C.I.F.E.R.’ he replied then paused before he threw up a devil horn salute in place of a Sign name and Danni giggled. That made him grin and nod in satisfaction.

‘ _Better’_ he said with a flourish of fingers.

‘ _you really own the place?’_ She asked and he nodded. The concept that he was taking the time to speak to her was slightly dizzying. ‘ _When did you learn Sign?’_ She asked, trying to turn the conversation on to more normal topics. She spoke aloud at the same time as her hands moved. Afterall, she was the one struggling to hear not him.

‘ _Like I said, I speak everything’_ He repeated his earlier answer as if it should explain everything. He didn’t speak aloud in return, obviously realising she wasn’t able to pick it out before moving a little closer. ‘ _Also, I’ve found women generally appreciate a man with agile fingers’_ She blinked twice as she registered what he’d just said then she burst out laughing. She couldn’t help herself, the innuendo was just so bad.

‘ _That’s got to be the worst line I’ve ever seen’_ She managed, her Sign coming out as a barely comprehendible mess. When she got herself back under control she looked up to see he was staring at her intently and she sobered as she realised he hadn’t meant that as a joke. The sudden thought of _exactly_ what he could be doing with such dexterous fingers ran through her mind and her body shivered in excitement. She blushed slightly and looked at him with a much more attentive eye.

‘ _Now, indulge me, why aren’t you having a good time?’_ He asked again with a boyish smile. His body language said that, for all the world, her answer was the most important thing to him right now.

‘ _I want to have fun. It’s just this…’_ she waved her hand to indicate the club, ‘ _…isn’t really my scene’_

‘ _Then why did you come?’_ He asked with a furrowed brow. It was rather attractive to see such a confused look on his face. She smiled before pointing to where Lottie and the others were _still_ dancing.

‘ _They brought me. They wanted to do something nice, but they didn’t ask what I wanted’_ Another sore point. People just assumed she wanted a ‘normal life’ so kept trying to encourage her to go out and do ‘normal’ things without considering how difficult some of those activities could be for her. Lucifer moved even closer and she was glad she was sitting down as the smell of him was intoxicating. He looked her in the eye and when he spoke she had to remind herself to concentrate to understand him.

‘ _And what do you Desire?’_ He asked earnestly, with both his mouth and his hands, and for a moment her mind couldn’t think of anything at all as he continued to look at her.

“Silence” She said, out loud and not caring if she had pitched her volume right or not. “On _my_ terms”

‘ _That can be arranged_ ’ he signed with a smile before holding out his hand. She was confused as to what he could mean but she still took it instantly. She stood but paused as she glanced at the table of drinks she was supposed to be watching over for the others. Lucifer gave a gentle squeeze of her hand to get her attention. When she looked at him he gave a cocky grin before turning to the bar. She saw his jaw move but couldn’t make out what he said as he gave instructions to the staff. A moment later one of the bartenders made their way over to stand next to the table like a bouncer. His stance made it clear that no one would be allowed to get near the table or what was on it unless they were supposed to. Lucifer squeezed her hand again before raising his eyebrows suggestively. She smiled in response and began to follow.

“Will you tell them where I’ve gone?” She asked the barman and they nodded. It was all the assurance she needed as she let Lucifer lead her away with his arm around her. “Where are we going?” she added as they made their way up the stairs. He grinned and let go of her hand only long enough to give a perfectly signed answer.

‘ _You’ll see’_


End file.
